I don't know where I get my information that I seem to have in my head about Coronado, several sources really. Some of it comes from someone who did a video report pre-internet that I have seen, There does seem to be a dearth of information about Coronado. So I think this might be a good place to put out what I think I know, and maybe some one who does the research can correct it. Coronado was a little ambitious company that wanted to be a part of the modern industrialization of the 1800s, in a large part led by Singer, but they did not set out to be a Singer cloning company; They were into metal work. They had a small plant (picture a brick warehouse with a small foundry and a work yard). They were from the start looking for a good product that would make them good money. It didn't go very well; they did piece work, but their main stay, low profit products were toys. They were looking for a solid product line when the sewing machine opportunity arrived, which they enthusiastically dived into. They got rid of all their non sewing machine making tooling and they made their first sewing machines in house. At that time they decided that they needed a "brand name". The owner was aware of the conquistador Coronado, and he was infatuated with the Southwest though he had never been there, but mainly he like the way it sounded: "It's a Coronado". Many people do not realize the high drama around sewing machines. Sewing machines led the industrial revolution, especially about machines and factories. Singer might be said to be the first multi-notional :-), and of course while their patents were in force, they had a monopoly. When the patent monopoly ended, a number of firms jumped in the sewing machine manufacturing game, little guys. So then, National Sewing Machine sets out to consolidate American, non-Singer sewing machine manufacturing. Singer's scale and internationalism as well as National Sewing Machine's name made it plausibly a patriotic business operation, but I think it was simple anti-competitive market consolidation. So after WWII National Sewing Machine's function is taken over by Brother, and National Sewing Machine goes out of business. I would not be surprised if National Sewing Machine and Brother had major stockholders in common at that time. So Coronado was all in on being a sewing machine manufacturer, but was not really set up for such mass production, and were approached by National Sewing Machine to have National Sewing Machine make their machines. They didn't really want National Sewing Machine to make their sewing machines, but could see that they would never be able to compete and stay afloat, so they made the deal to badge their machines. This was in the 1800s. All the other cloning companies were bought up or went out of business. Coronado survived, but turned basically into a sales company, but they had a solid contract so they could compete as an indy label. They did make another short lived attempt at doing something on the engineering side. I think the 2 step button holing sewing machine might be the only thing to come out of it. I'm not sure. The only one I have seen anything on is the one I posted about at: https://www.reddit.com/r/SewingMachinePorn/comments/1ahdwvu/missing_from_the_internet_coronado_451409_sm51409a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 This is an improved rewrite of a post I made there. This is also the machine where I first made note of Coronado, back in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I was a kid. Is this a two step button holer unicorn? If anyone knows of another, let me know .. or where a manual to this machine, a #45-1409, S.M,5-1409A can be found . Some investigative reporter wanted to know what happened to Coronado when the department stores closed and the Coronado machines disappeared from the market. He tracked the company down to a one room office in some low rent office building. He finally got a hold of the man running the place, who was seemingly well into retirement. At some point the owner just made a contract with minor department store companies to do the selling and to furnish them with machines made by his suppliers, and he put the business on auto-pilot.

Hello all, I found this beefy looking machine in the share shed while on a dump run. It is a Coronado, and from what I've read in previous posts is quite hard to pin down info. It is a model #320, and seems to be in great shape w/ needle (just missing a foot pedal). Does anyone have any info regarding manuals, or if this machine will run on a universal pedal. I'd hate to invest and have it turn out useless. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, MC

The top thread tension is usually very straight forward, and most likely is very similar to a lot of other brands. If you can't find the manual for your particular machine, a model very close to it usually does the job. These machines are often described as "badged machines" and "model 15 clones". You can probably find an identical machine to yours with a different name and "badge", user manual will also be the same. They are often very nice machines, dependable and nice to work with. Yours looks like it's in good condition, and they are usually worth spending a bit of time and money on if needed. These are very dependable work horses, simple straight stitchers not made to day. The advantage is they are usually solidly built, and yours looks like it might be old enought to have all metal gears, that's top notch in a vintage machine ;- ) Oil it regularly and frequenty, lift all lids and plates, you might have to unscrew a couple of screws. The under side needs attention too, there's a few places needing oil there too. All moving parts needs oil, where metal touches metal, gears, hinged parts, etc. Triflow is superb, but any good sewing machine oil does the job. A bit of cleaning might be necessary, it's surprising how much lint, thread and dust can gather in the bobbin and feed dog area. When you don't have the manual, your intuition is the best guide. With a bit of time and effort you will most likely find a useful manaual though. It's a bit hard to see from your picture, but I guess the tension mechanism is on the side, where the side plate is. That's a mark of a model 15 clone, along with the class 15 bobbin case. Any Singer model 15 thread guide, or any model 15 clone guide should be helpful. Place the spool of thread on the pin on top, look for thread guides along the way; the route is towardsthe tension mechanism with the dial on the side (usually the thread goes inbetween two disks there), then to the moving arm. This is the tricky area, it might be very simple, or the might be some looping around the tensioner and the thread guides there. These newer machines often thread a bit more simple and straight forward than the original Singer 15 model. then towards the needle bar. Look for the last thread guide on the needle bar, it tells you which way to thread the needle. It's either from the right to the left; left to the right or front to back. Needle threads from the side this last thread guide is placed to the oposite side. It tells you which way the needle is put in too; the needle threads from round side of the shaft to the flat side. The flat side faces towards the oposite side of the thread guide on the needle bar. When test sewing use a general sew it all thread, not too thick like top stitch or extra strength. Sew two layers of light cotton fabric, quilting type, or shirt type weight. If the dial is numbered from 0-9 start with a setting between 4 and 5. I found a picture with a threaded machine same as yours! http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1EDdX1uAMU/Tp9pkiy8nuI/AAAAAAAAAFU/uCKiq-cyAR4/s1600/Picture+011.jpg It's taken from a very nice blog, with interesting info :- ) http://mivintagesewingmachines.blogspot.no/2011/10/coronado.html

If all you want is straight stitch, they are hard to beat. I sued to keep my mom's old Singer set up for straight when I was using the fancy stitches on my other machine. It saved a lot of time.